Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Sometimes you can become so engrossed in a project, that you find it difficult to stop. Time flies by and you just keep sewing on and on.

I had so much fun making this Quilter's Tile that it became two, then three, then four. The fabrics were scraps that I had left from making a quilt for my granddaughter. As I stitched away, I was thinking of her and the fun we always have together. I enjoy working with bright and colorful fabrics and did a bit of improvisational piecing to combine the different sizes and shapes of my scraps.

Since I now had four tiles, I chose to join them into a one long wall hanging and when I look up from my sewing machine I think of Emily.

The tiles were joined with a row of black beads hand stitched between each tile.

Thanks for joining me today, please stop by again for new Quilter's Tiles and ways to enjoy them.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

This week for my Quilter's Tile I used many of the same products and techniques that I used last week for a totally different result.

Starting with white muslin, I painted the background with Dye-Na-Flow paints. I added the blue Lumiere metallic paint using a credit card as my brush to create large areas of color. The edge of the card was used to make thin lines for my trees. To create thin, delicate branches I used a Micron Pigma 01 pen. This was a new effort for me and I really liked the results. I'll do this again.

Because I find hand embroidery relaxing and gives me time away from my machine, I made joyful little french knots with DMC embroidery floss. Using all six strands made heavy knots, while three strands made smaller knots to create a feeling of depth.i

This walk is a definite contrast to the scene outside our window today. We awoke to a snow covered winter wonderland. The white blanket of snow was breathtaking. Who knows, today's walk may lead to a new Tuesday's Tile. Check back next week to find out.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Some Quilter's Tiles happen quickly. An idea may come and I jump on it and it is finished before I know it. Other Quilter's Tiles are the product of several adventures with different techniques.

The background of this tile was painted with Dye-Na-Flow paints some time ago. Later, I bought some Lumiere Metallic paints and another bit was added.

The borders are added using Kaufman Radiance silk fabric. They have a wonderful reflective quality that adds highlights to your quilt. The fabric blended beautifully with the shine of the metallic paint.

I especially liked the contrast of the olive borders with the hand-dyed turquoise (lovely fabric dyed by Frieda Anderson).

I machine quilted some areas of the quilt and then had quiet moments while I relaxed and added hand embroidery stitches. Love making those cute little french knots.

Not all finished in a flash, but a slow process as I meandered from technique to technique.

Friday, January 13, 2012

On a cold, snowy winter's day, we dream of sunshine, warm temperatures and flower gardens. In this case, not frozen, windswept water but glorious blossoms on pad-covered (liquid) water.

As I pondered the fate of my blue pre-cut double wedding ring pieces, I started rearranging them. I felt perhaps they could be put together as they were. So much less work. I would stitch them into rows, well, maybe curvy rows and see if they could be used.

This turned out to be an exciting experiment even though the rows weren't straight. Definitely, not for the pure at heart. They took on a life of their own. I stitched the rows together adding a strip of hand-dyed fabric in.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Since I had all of the tools close at hand, I thought I should try another method of needle felting. It is also possible to needle punch patches of wool cut from wool fabrics.

Here I made a simple quilt using patches cut from scraps of wool clothing fabrics (clothes that I had made, not that I was wearing, altho...)

I dug into a long lost bag of yarn and found wool yarn left from a crewel embroidery project, a beautiful piece that my mother-in-law had made. I remember it hanging in her house at the top of the staircase. (Now, lucky me, I have it hanging in my studio.)

I cut yarn strands about a half inch longer than my background and punched them in. Oops. They shrunk up quite a bit, I wasn't counting on that happening. I now know they should be much longer.

Here you can see the back of my background fabric with all of the punches coming through. This side also presents possibilities. Oh good, another quilt will soon be dancing in my head.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Yesterday I was digging in my stash looking for a blue fabric, when I came across of bag of pieces all cut and waiting. The way my mind works, the original project was forgotten in the delight of my "new find". After studying them, I decided that they were cut for a double wedding ring. Did I ever make a double wedding ring? Or was I going to?

Then I remembered I did make one long ago for a wedding gift. Because I finished it without a moment to spare (the story of my life), it slipped from my memory.

Obviously, I was very ambitious to cut so many pieces that I didn't need. Now the question is, will I ever make another double wedding ring? Should I hold the pieces for that day?

Should I re-cut them into squares to use another way? They measure approximately 1-1/2" x 2" now, what would they be if I chose to re-cut them?

Or should I just rid myself of all responsibility and bury them in the garbage?

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A cold day in January and a wish to stay warm led me to trying a new technique (for me). It was time to pull out the 'warm' wool roving (strands) I had stashed and find a bit of wool to place them on. I had gotten the wool from Peggy Yates of Peaceable Acres Farm Fiber Arts after visiting her and her adorable sheep one warm summer day.

It was then time to open that Clover Felting Needle Tool and have some fun punching the roving into the background wool. It is amazing how easy it is, love those barbed little wool fibers that hook together so nicely.

.

Why do I make quilts?

For me, it is a creative outlet and a way to share myself with others. I embrace the process, the cutting and rearranging, enjoying the fabrics, playing with the colors and patterns, and exploring the texture of the stitching.